The first cold nights in Texas, station by station
When the first night of 50°F or colder and the first freeze usually come at each reference station over the last 10 falls (a count shows where some years never got there), with the coldest week from NOAA’s 1991 to 2020 normals and the coldest night of the last 10 winters.
First cold nights and the coldest week at Texas reference stations
The panel at the top of this page sets the next 7 nights at Houston against the normal low for each date and adds the Climate Prediction Center outlook for the two weeks after. Enter a ZIP for your own town; it uses the nearest of the 6 Texas reference stations.
The first night of 50°F or colder is a fair marker of the first real front. At Houston the first night of 50°F or colder came around Oct 20 in the median of the last 10 falls, as early as Oct 17 in 2021 and as late as Nov 2 in 2018. Elsewhere in the state: Dallas Fort Worth around Oct 17, San Antonio around Oct 18, Austin around Oct 18, El Paso around Oct 17 and Amarillo around Sep 24.
Houston has its first freeze around Dec 17, counting nights at 32°F or colder over the last 10 winters. Across the state: Dallas Fort Worth around Dec 1, San Antonio around Dec 12, Austin around Dec 13, El Paso around Nov 27 and Amarillo around Oct 29.
The coldest night of the last 10 winters at Houston was 13°F on Feb 16, 2021, and the coldest night of a typical winter there was 21°F. Elsewhere: Dallas Fort Worth −2°F on Feb 16, 2021, San Antonio 9°F on Feb 15, 2021 and Austin 7°F on Feb 16, 2021. The record at the Houston station is 7°F, on Dec 23, 1989, in daily records since 1969.
At Houston a typical recent winter brings 8 nights at 32°F or colder and 1 at 20°F or colder, the median of the last 10 seasons.
Each night's forecast low is compared with the NOAA normal low for that date at the nearest reference station. A night 20 or more degrees below normal is an arctic blast, and so is a night below zero where the normal low is 10°F or warmer. A night 10 to 19 below is a cold snap. A night 5 or more below, or a week that runs 3 or more below on average, is colder than normal, and a week 5 or more above is mild.
The normal lows and coldest weeks are NOAA's 1991 to 2020 daily climate normals for Houston Intercontinental Airport (USW00012960), Dallas Fort Worth Airport (USW00003927), San Antonio International Airport (USW00012921), Austin Camp Mabry (USW00013958), El Paso International Airport (USW00023044) and Amarillo (USW00023047). The recent winters, first dates and records come from the same stations' daily lows in NOAA's GHCN-Daily archive, the winters of 2016 to 2017 through 2025 to 2026. The 7 night forecast is the National Weather Service's and the outlook is the Climate Prediction Center's.
